impact of nuclear waste
Uranium releases radioactive radon gas into the atmosphere. Rain discharges them into the earth whilst it begin to contaminate soil,air,water,food,animals tissue.
- Tailings which is the solid radioactive waste from mining contaminate the soil and enter the ground water or dispersed into the environment by winds
- A nuclear accident caused irreversible harm to the community and environment. eg. 12 atmospheric experiment were carried out by British government at Monte Bello Islands(Western Australia), and Emu field and Maralinga (South Australia which had badly affected the health of indigenous people.
- Water could leak out of the waste dump contaminatethe environment.
- Reactor may be a terrorist target
- Natural such as bushfires or eathquake may cause a nuclear accident.
- Exposure to radioactive waste can result in nervous disorders, kidney inflammation, cancer and birth defects
- Uranium mining and plutonium production make radioactive material that contaminates everything around it. This affects the people nearby as well as the ecosystem.
- Some radioactive material can last for hundreds of thousands of years. Who knows what affect it could have on humans and the environment between now and then?
- A typical reactor produces about 20–30 tonnes of radioactive waste per year that can’t be disposed of (plutonium–239 will remain dangerous for 10,000 years and radioactive for 2
MANAGEMENT OF WASTE
Management of nuclear waste depend on the amount, type and period of time and waste remains hazardous. The classification of thehazardous is as below :
There is few methods of managing waste such as vitrification,sending waste into space. But,the best way is to stop constructing nuclear reactors to solve nuclear waste problems.
- Low level waste (hospitals and industry) - Burried in shallow landfill sites.
- Intermediate-level waste (resins and chemical sludge) - burried in concrete or bitumen.
- High level waste (fuels rods) - transported in thick containers to prevent leaking
There is few methods of managing waste such as vitrification,sending waste into space. But,the best way is to stop constructing nuclear reactors to solve nuclear waste problems.